


We'll Climb Mountains Together

by strictlyhighbuttonshoes



Series: The Adventures of Stora [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Asshat Peter, Childhood Friends, Confusion, Curiosity, Derek POV, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Constipated Derek, F/M, Feelings, Fluffy, Former Best Friends, Gen, General, Hurt/Comfort, I think I may have gone a little overboard with the tags, IDFK you guys this is my first time, Ineffective Tagging, Kissing, Lame Attempt at Explaining Cora's Escape from Hale Fire, MAGIC HEALING CUDDLES, Past Violence, References to Hale fire, Sleeptalking, Stiles/Cora, Stora, Unbeta'd, Wolfsbane Poisoning, oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-16
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-20 08:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/885083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strictlyhighbuttonshoes/pseuds/strictlyhighbuttonshoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cora and Stiles are linked somehow, and Derek is pretty bent on finding out how - without asking either of them. </p><p>When Cora gets poisoned and doesn't get better, Derek calls the last person he'd expect to be able to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Climb Mountains Together

The first time Cora said Stiles' name in her sleep, Derek thought nothing of it. Or at least, he told himself that it didn't matter, that it was probably just a slip of the tongue, that she was probably thinking about fashion or clothing or something like that. Anything apart from her actually referring to the human Stiles.

The second time she said it, she was definitely not asleep and was actually leaning against the kitchen island, and she was asking Peter, "Do you guys know anyone called Stiles?"

Peter had smirked slightly, and said, "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell." Judging by the sad look in Cora's eyes and the dejection staining her scent, this was not the answer she'd been hoping for.

Peter turned his head and looked Derek right in the eye, before turning away again. He fucking _knew_ something.

Motherfucker.

The third time, she was asleep again and Derek was just outside the door when she muttered, "No, Stiles, the _blue_ crayon. I want the blue one."

 _This is ridiculous_ , Derek thought, but the idea that Cora somehow knew Stiles kept him up that night, and he honestly couldn't say which he was more confused with, the boy or his sister.

The fourth time, Cora didn't say Stiles' name outright, but when Peter spread the photocopied morgue report of Heather's death out on the living room table, she squinted momentarily at the dead girl's photo ID for a second before turning on her heel and disappearing into her room, the door slamming shut. Shortly afterwards, there was choked off, hysterical crying, and Cora's voice, so small and vulnerable, muttering, "I didn't do it, Stiles, I swear…"

And Derek doesn't know what to do with vulnerable teenagers. God knew he fucked up with Isaac, how was he supposed to deal with the mystery that was his presumed-dead little sister?

Because somehow Cora knew that Stiles and Heather were friends. And she knew that she and Boyd, the lunar-crazed betas, had been the initial suspects.

The fifth time was neither calm nor curious. It came in a whirlwind of fear and adrenaline, and Derek was crouched over Cora's body as she struggled to heal herself from the wolfsbane running through her system, poisoning her and causing her to hallucinate.

Kali had set up an elaborate trap to drug her with fumes from the plant when she was walking home from the corner store, and Derek was also freaking out about the possibility of a fucking dark _druid_ in his territory, poaching on his Pack members.

Not a good day.

Especially not when Cora started screaming Stiles' name into the rafters of the loft, her voice wracked with pain as she shivered and shuddered through her nightmares.

Derek and Peter were holding her down by the shoulders and knees, Isaac hovering helplessly off to the side, and they watched helplessly as her screams turned into cries, tears streaming down her cheeks, which turned into whimpers of, "I'm sorry, Stiles, I didn't mean it, it was an accident, I don't wanna hurt you, I'm so sorry…"

Derek threw in the fucking towel.

Isaac ran over and took a hold of Cora's shoulders and arms when Derek stood up abruptly, scooping his phone off the table and dialling.

"Get here now."

"Derek?" Stiles' voice asked. "I'm a little busy at the moment, what with the chaos you guys left on the other side of town…"

"I don't really care! I…" Derek hesitated, and looked back at his baby sister, groaning and trembling on the floor of his apartment. "I need you. Please."

"For fuck's sake-! Fine. I'll be there in ten." Dial tone.

"He'll be here in ten minutes," Derek announced to the room at large, and Peter patted Cora's knee comfortingly.

"Just hold on, kiddo," their uncle muttered, looking sincerely concerned for the first time in a long while.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Stiles arrived in a tornado of irritation and a faint sense of concern, but all of that changed the moment he stepped into the living area and lays eyes on Cora, who was now in the process of curling herself up as small and insignificant as she possibly could with Isaac and Peter holding her down.

Derek watched his facial expression change from annoyance to disbelief, to shock, and eventually to outrage. Stiles grabbed Derek by the elbow and dragged him into the kitchen, rounding on him as soon as they're out of sight.

"Okay, Derek, what the fuck did you do?" he snarled, and Derek was so taken aback by the hostility that he forgot to reply.

"Nnngh… Stiles?"

Stiles froze. Derek didn't think he'd ever seen him so motionless. It was strangely unnerving. He watched as the younger man slowly rotated around on his heel, staring without focus, and then waited for him to turn back around.

"Was that…"

"She's my sister," Derek said, hoping that he's reading the situation right, because Cora had been calling for Stiles for two hours now and her condition wasn't getting better. "She's been asking for you."

"Your sister is Co-" and then he's off, darting for the door and spilling out into the living room, Derek close on his heels.

Isaac leapt out of the way as Stiles threw himself down near Cora's head, and Peter also backed off from holding her legs down. Derek was about to protest the lack of restraint going on with a fragile human being so close to a hallucinating werewolf, until Stiles touched Cora's shoulder and her entire body goes limp.

Her features melted back into human ones and her eyes were dark and wet when they met Stiles'.

"Cora," Stiles whispered, almost reverent, and Cora sniffled as she nods. Derek could smell the hope and happiness wafting to the surface of her scent, effectively blocking out the sour stench of poison and pain as she reached her hand up to circle Stiles' wrist where his hand still rested on her shoulder.

"Stiles," Cora replied, her fingers pale on Stiles' skin, fingernails pressed ever so lightly against the veins thrumming underneath, her heartbeat evening out to match his pulse. "You know my brother?"

"If your brother is Derek, then wow yes, I know your brother," Stiles affirmed, his eyes still drinking in the sight of Cora, battered and bloody as she still was from Kali's trap. "At least now I know that a violent streak runs in the family."

Cora's chin wobbled for a split second and then she was crying again, and Stiles' other hand hovered over her body for a moment before he said, "fuck it" and pushed her upright with the hand on her shoulder, slotting himself in behind her and looping his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest. His chin hooked over her shoulder as he hugged her tight to his front, his legs bracketing her hips as he scooted them back to rest against the wall that was mostly made of windows.

Derek could only take so much more of his little sister crying before he had to go and break something. Peter and Isaac joined him near the doorway to the kitchen, both watching Stiles as he brought Cora down from her hysterics, turning her around in his arms so that he could hold her tighter and more securely, running his hands through her hair and over her skin, and, at one point, nosing at her throat in a very werewolf-like manner, as if he was scenting her to calm her down.

Derek missed it when Stiles hissed at him from across the room. Peter jabbed him with an elbow and he locked eyes with Stiles over Cora's head.

Stiles spoke quietly enough so that he didn't disturb Cora, who had finally stopped crying and was sniffling into Stiles' shoulder, her arms wrapping around his neck, holding on tight. "Can you guys like, go away for a bit? I need to talk to her."

None of them budged, and Derek felt conflicted. On the one hand, he really wanted to know what the connection was, but on the other hand, he wanted his sister to get better so she could tell him herself.

" _Alone_ ," Stiles whispered harshly, and Cora stirred against him.

Isaac was the first to leave, slipping out the apartment door, followed closely by Peter, but Derek stayed behind, still torn. Stiles looked up and met his gaze, and smiled sadly.

"She'll be fine, Derek. I promise. I'll take care of her, we…" he trailed off. "… We were best friends, a long time ago. I'll bring her back."

Derek nodded, his curiosity sated, and left the apartment, closing the door to the sound of Stiles kissing Cora's hair and whispering to her, words too quiet and too personal to warrant any eavesdropping.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Later, Cora told her brother about her friendship with Stiles, about how they banded together, the outcast, sometimes-violent weird girl and the spastic weird boy with a running mouth. She told him about how she'd escaped the Hale house during the fire, how she, delusional and terrified, had run to the Stilinski residence and climbed into Stiles' bedroom.

How her eleven-year-old self had howled with grief, surrounded by her best friend's scent until Stiles came home, and how she turned on him when he opened the door.

How she'd left four long scratches on the boy's stomach, how her guts had dropped like stones when she heard Stiles cry out, how she'd thrown herself out the window and sprinted into the woods again, ignoring Stiles' voice as he shouted after her.

"He was my best friend," Cora whispered, allowing Derek to sling an arm around her shoulders and pull her against his side. "He was my best friend and I - I  _hurt_ him. I could never get past that. Being back here, safe after all those years of running away, made me remember him. Why didn't you tell me you knew him? I asked you weeks ago."

Technically, she'd asked Peter, but Peter was a conniving little dickweed who acted half his age and didn't care about anyone. Also, not the point. Derek had overheard and still said nothing.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "I think it might have had something to do with the fact that it was just a reminder that I didn't know anything much about you back then, and I still don't know much about you now. It… hurt that you cared more about finding him than you did about being home with me." As he said the words, he knew it was the truth, or at least as true as anything could be when everyone around you could hear you lie.

"I love you, Der," Cora told him, and he smirked down at her, knowing what was coming. "But if you ever do something like this again, like consciously withhold information because of your own insecurities, I will reach down your throat and pull your lungs out through your mouth."

Derek kissed her forehead and laughed into her hair.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next week, Peter helped Derek enrol Cora into her last year of high school at Beacon Hills, and Stiles picked her up for the first day in his faded blue Jeep. And if Derek spots them making out in the car when Stiles drops her home in the afternoon, well…

Only Cora could hear when he tapped the glass of his apartment windows like an angry father.

Little shit didn't even turn around.

**Author's Note:**

> WHOA. 
> 
> So this is my first finished fic in over three years! Sad, I know. I'm primarily a Sterek girl, but this idea hit me like a freight train two days ago and I finished it last night. 
> 
> IT WAS AWESOME. 
> 
> The primary idea was that Stiles has (as of ep 3x06) never met Cora, and my plan was that he'd never heard her referenced by name, and even if he has, I DON'T CARE, this has happened and I'm pretty proud of it. 
> 
> Bits that weren't explained in the fic: 
> 
> \- Cora and Stiles met in elementary school and banded together  
> \- For the purposes of this fic, Stiles meets Scott after the Hale fire  
> \- After Cora slashes Stiles, she runs off - to do god knows what - and he never hears from her again  
> \- Cora never told Stiles her last name, much as he never told her his first name, and neither made an effort to find out because seriously, why would you?  
> \- I made them 'get together' at the end because man, if Cora and Stiles got together in Teen Wolf it'd be just like Stiles getting with Derek except heterosexual. They're both similar looking, emotionally stunted and unnecessarily violent. 
> 
> So yeah. I'm pretty satisfied with this! My first Teen Wolf fic is now out on the internet! YES! 
> 
> If you spot any mistakes (I was writing in present tense but then I accidentally switched to past tense unknowingly, what can I say, I haven't written anything in a while, I'm pretty rusty) please feel free to point them out!
> 
> I'm also on [tumblr](http://obsoleteangles.tumblr.com/). Come and hang with me and be my friend and bitch about teenage werewolves with me!


End file.
